A recent meeting in Seattle between Bill Gates and the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, culminated in a solution to the massive piracy problem in the country (estimates say 87% of all software used in Indonesia is an illegal copy). The problem stemmed from not only the wide-scale piracy around the country, but within the government itself, with some 50,000+ computers running pirated copies of Windows.

Microsoft has agreed to an amnesty for all government computers. Each computer used by the Indonesian government will be registered with Microsoft, and US$1 paid for every illegal copy of Windows found. As well as a bill for around US$50,000 once this process is complete, the government also agreed that all future software will be bought legally, and that measures will be put in place to curb piracy around the country. The time scale of the amnesty has yet to be decided, but the Indonesian Government is hoping for at least a year, with a promise that it will go legal from 2007 on.

Microsoft stated that it is happy to give amnesty to developing countries as long as they take steps to stop piracy in the future.

MATTHEW'S OPINION
I think Microsoft is doing the grown-up thing here and offering the Indonesian Government a way out of a difficult situation. MS could have just told the government to pay up for 50,000 copies of Windows, leaving it with a large bill that couldn't be paid. This way Microsoft gets a token payment, a promise for a legal future, and a renewed effort to crack down on piracy.

If the initiative is seen through in Indonesia then it should curb piracy throughout the government, schools, universities, and public places (such as libraries) by the end of 2007.

Microsoft is also providing additional motivation by suggesting that a new research facility might be situated in Indonesia. This would be very good for the economy and provide jobs, but I am sure Microsoft has made it very clear that it will only happen if the government cooperates on piracy issues.

Good move(8:38am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Microsoft. Now, work on handing out more free goodies to everyone except for the paying customers. - by Tard Watcher

$1 per copy is blatant give-away(8:45am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)The Indonesian government is corrupt enough to use Pirated Windows in the first place.. Bad examples do not teach the country good habits now, do they?

Doubt the Indo government is going to do anything about that.. just that they literally got 50,000 copies of Windows for free!! - by IndonesiaSux

Hmmmm(8:51am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)I would have prosecuted Indonesia to the fullest extent of the law. They're one of those pain in the butt countries that refuse to cooperate with the rest of the developed world. Did anyone SEE what happened to that Austrailian woman that had the weed planted in her luggage? Better yet was thier explaination “we didn't see anyone else put it in her suitcase, so she must be guilty”. - by Angry Rivethead

Grown-up?(8:51am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)WTF?

Who is Microsoft to “grant amnesty” to anybody for anything?

This is happening in Indonesia. If Indonesia decides they do not wish to protect intellectual property and do not wish to honor the MS license, then MS has no case in their country!

That's a fact.

The only reason any of this is happening is because MS is dangling a new facility in front of them.

- by CD

TCO indeed(8:57am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)For free? What the hell you smokin?MS is reviewing the government plans, going to take a big chunk of land to develop a research facility.

Locking the country in to purchasing and using MS software in the future.

You call that free? I call it the best excuse yet to dump MS and use ANYTHING else. Might as well come out and say they have an entire country over a barrel and we are using this opprotunity to massively influence a government.

Free if you give up freedom, sure, I get it now.

BSD, Linux, ANYTHING but MS. Change now or loose power in your governments. - by King Billy

Microsoft is scary(8:57am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)I think Microsoft is testing their International strength and trying to control a problem that they canít even really control in our own country. Microsoft is prepping to take over the world I tell you theyíre going to make everyone use their software, while they make them pay a couple pints of blood, $200, a healthy kidney and a virgin sacrifice to pay for it and even if they donít pay for it that software its just going to help them take over the world through people who rely on their systems just you wait and see. - by Sonickid101

But, what about inernational laws? or if indonesia doesnt have a law against this can they pretty much do what they want? - by ChuckyCheese

Indonesia is mostly Muslim(9:04am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)and think all of us Christians are pig entrails anyway. I say screw em, they have been offered the truth and refused it so I will kick the dust off my feet as I walk away.I say put a code on Longhorn that self-destructs the machine if it is not verified as legal.Even if they all aren't terrorist, the Muslim world is so brainwashed by their anti Jewish / Christian propaganda machine has most all of them disliking us.Let them blow each others brains out. They will if given the chance. - by Truth Man

Microsoft doing the right thing.(9:19am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)If microsoft had not concluded this deal, Indonesia would just go on using pirated material. Microsoft should be compensated for their product. This is probably the best deal they could have made. A token payment now with legal software in the future is a just arraingment. - by theadorebear

Urk…(9:29am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Truth Man – you talk about them hating you because of propaganda? Maybe you should read what you have posted. It seems that you too have been through the dogmatic Western/Christian brainwashing machine yourself. I bet you've never been there, but you 'know' that they're terrorists anyway. As for this 'truth' that they declined, I assume you're talking about your religion. Again, that seems to be your religious propaganda talking. It's no wonder the world hates the US because of people like you.

Truth is that there is no bad side, both see themselves as being the good guys, and the other side(s) as the bad guys.

Next time, try to control that intolerant racist tongue of yours, because you're just as blind as everyone else.

Back on topic:

This seems more like it's encouraging pirating to me. I mean, they pirated loads of Windows, and they get the real thing for practically nothing. What's to stop all the other countries doing the same, just so they can get windows for nearly nothing too? - by A Goddamned Tramp

Ummm…(9:31am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)[quote]Indonesia is mostly Muslim (9:04am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)and think all of us Christians are pig entrails anyway. I say screw em, they have been offered the truth and refused it so I will kick the dust off my feet as I walk away.I say put a code on Longhorn that self-destructs the machine if it is not verified as legal.Even if they all aren't terrorist, the Muslim world is so brainwashed by their anti Jewish / Christian propaganda machine has most all of them disliking us.Let them blow each others brains out. They will if given the chance. – by Truth Man[/quote]

First off I must reply to this ignorant “Man”. Religion, no matter which one it is, is corrupt and evil. You are all brainwashed to your own desires, and your own good, and your own culture. So shut up and take your pathetic religious arrogance somewhere else.

Second off, I completly agree with a post made earlier. They should use linux, not microsoft.

- by Me

$1(9:32am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Indonesia being a neutral country.I can see where this is leading to.We have gave Billions to other countrys. Why not help Indonesia out of another hole. Inflation is high there. And see your current currency exchange for how much of there money they have to pay out.

Good Relations = Good Tactics!Why not have a country in your pocket.Rather then trying to squash the country.

And how much will Microsoft save for allowing this? In the Millions. Cost of Labor there. Products that will role out. Microsoft isn't a small fry. They know how to play with there money.

Intern: A good investment. - by Spifey

Sigh(9:51am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)NO ONE WILL EVER SWITCH TO LINUX AS A DESKTOP. Get it through your head. The closest thing you will get is OS X. Sure it's good as a server/router, but as a desktop, Windows anyday for me and about 99% of the world. - by flare

Re: On the whole religion thing….(9:52am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Me on:

Western as opposed to other cultures: We must be doing SOMETHING correctly in order to devise microprocessors, cars and fast food. Other cultures still live in grass huts and worship fairytales. True we're generally religious (not me though) but most of us know where to draw the line, its maybe a 1ce a year thing when someone sticks a bomb in front of an abortion clinic, not an every day thing. Our success and advancement proves we're supirior, if they were so great, they'd would have written thier OWN operating system, and they would have started it 80 years ago. True, they made advancements during the dark ages when we were busy burning witches. But we stopped that 300 years ago. They still do it. I'm not being racist, it has nothign to do with thier race. Cultures however i look at as fair game. Cultures are a choice. I see all kinds of people critisizing the gang culture. Gang members are usually born into an area that supports it, much like people being born in the middle east are born into thier ways. - by Angry Rivethead

Re: Rivethead(10:02am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Please note that if you have to start a sentence with “I'm not being racist”, it usually means that you are…- by BG

Re: BG(10:05am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Riiiiight. - by Angry Rivethead

Angry Rivethead(10:09am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Great post!!!

1) Yes the Dark Ages occurred in the US.2) The US is composed entirely of Europeans.

- by xyz

ar(10:11am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)whats wrong with living in a hut? How does living in a “house” make you so much better? Does your car make you better then me and my feet?

Devising a microprocessor isnt the sign of a better culture, just one with different priorities.

the life of the people living in huts is greater then yours, they worship life and live a fulfilling one, while you worship your house and car. - by Bam…

But, what about inernational laws? or if indonesia doesnt have a law against this can they pretty much do what they want?”

This isn't a matter of international law at all. It is an internal matter of Indonesia. So yes, exactly, they can do what they want in this regard. In fact there are countries that do not protect MS licensing and intellectual property. You can buy Windows on the street for a couple bucks in those places, and it isn't illegal. - by CD

flare(10:27am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)“Sigh (9:51am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)NO ONE WILL EVER SWITCH TO LINUX AS A DESKTOP. Get it through your head. The closest thing you will get is OS X. Sure it's good as a server/router, but as a desktop, Windows anyday for me and about 99% of the world.”

You need to step into the 21st Century dude. Not only will “they”, “they” are alredy doing it!

old and rusty(10:31am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)those windows systems are so old there only worth a dollar.whats windows xp 5 years old thats 35 in dog years those country's should use Linux systems bill gates is just lazy and greedy still milking money from those obsolete systems he should give them a dollar to use that crap - by kool Tux

oh year, (10:41am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)flare –

im a “nobody” too.

CD

… well… that certainly makes things interesting… im not sure why they didnt switch to linux… well… sure maybe for some financial benefit… but it will be interesting to see if ms forces them to do some agreement like upgrade to longhorn or shorthorn, or whatever it turns about to be. - by ChuckyCheese

ChuckyCheese and CD(11:00am EST Fri Jun 10 2005)God you guy's have a very narrow view of what businesses around the world actually use to run their networks.. Do you have any idea how many peices of software out there need windows to run.. have any idea what it would cost to re create the software ro run on windows.. Linux is a great OS.. but when your talking about a migration the size of an entire govbernment you are talking huge, huge amounts of resources and costs to make such a move.. just because you moved a few desktops does not mean you quickly do it to an entire government.. MS gave them a 50,000 out to stay on windows.. or they could have paid 10 X more to switch to linux.. what do you think the better deal was…I guess you blind hatred for MS clouds your judgement.. but until linux grows up and can the same support software stach and support infrastructure that windows has developed since it's inception.. Winodws will own the desktop unfortunatly.. Not a fanboy just the dark reality of our current situation..- by REASON

International Cop for MS(11:52am EST Fri Jun 10 2005) Like the president of Indonesia is going to be a cop for for MS. There will always be bootlegged software with verification requirements hacked out and the third world will be the main users. The developed nations have poured resources into the third world for 100 years and they are still the third world. Forgien aid or threats from the sovereign nation of Bill is not going to make a difference. - by RCAman

bootlegged (12:12pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)i been useing longhorn for about two years just upgraded to b5048 its great i dont know why it isnt on the market right now.longhorn makes xp look like windows 95. - by winhead

REASON(12:16pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)You have no clue what you are speaking of and are making accusations without any ground to stand on toward somebody you know nothing about.

I'm not some kid and I'm not some snot nosed tech either. I run companies that are the size of some small countries.

I know very well what I am speaking of. Who in the hell are you to claim that I said anything about convering their government to Linux? Can't you read?

Who in the hell are you to say anything about me “hating” MS? I never said any such thing here nor anywhere else.

You are a moron. Please let me know where you are so I can buy whoever you work for and fire you. If you work for yourself I'll just take pleasure in forcing you out. - by CD

Re: Bam(12:18pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Okay, so cars and houses may be a bad example, BUT, things like processors are. Humans are fragile, they're inherantly not robust enough to survive time, we live 76 years and die. You heat us up or cool us down a few degrees, we die. You can't replace our parts, turn us on or switch us off. You beat us as children and we'll have a complex for the rest of our lives. If humans were a product, I wouldnt't purchase one. If we do not engineer ourselves more robustly, we're lost. They're two approaches to this, either cause our inventions to emulate us so closely that its indestinguishable, or through bioengineering. Maybe in the end it will be a combination of both. I don't see these cultures rectifying this situation, however, we are. I don't worship My house or my car. Things i do like are things like climate control that is IN my house so i don't sweat/freeze my sack off. That whole bunnyhugging hippie concept of “worshipping life” just doesn't hold water. - by Angry Rivethead

The price is bad(12:30pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)I guess the price of the windows is going to go up again.

Goverment/Education price near free.US consumer price. $299.00

Five years ago the US consumer price was $199.00.. This is way above inflation.

I don't feel like I am geting $100 more stuff out of the product. Plus I have to call them to register the OS each time I put it on a computer.

The US goverment has been failed the US consumer by letting this monopoly survive.- by DS

re:Angry Rivethead(12:34pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)watch what you say about rabbits bub. just where did you hug this bunny are you a bunny molester just look at Michael Jackson he got caught you could be the next in the news. - by Bugs

Pass the Buck(1:02pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)I guest the forums these days are about debating culture or religion (aren't they the same thing?)

Personally, this is the ONLY solution for the M$ team. This idea of lower prices for 3rd world countries has been kicked around for years. A 3rd world country cannot afford the western prices, so the digital divide just happens. I am not an M$ fan, and agree with about 20% of the comments that we all need open source programs, whatever group puts it out.

I “pray” for the end of the evil empire M$… - by Not my Dollar

re Angry Rivethead (1:03pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)WINE AND BUNNYS think ill give it a try but what am i going to do with my sheep? - by jacksons evil twin

racism?(1:10pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)“time, try to control that intolerant racist tongue of yours, because you're just as blind as everyone else.”

How was that racism? He attacked a religion, not a race…idiot.- by ??

re:Not my Dollar(1:11pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)religion is becoming the heroin of culture. governments are using religion to control how the masses think.all religion is being used for elections and for war.maybe religion should be called what it is a cult i mean all. - by truth hurts

CD(1:29pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Atually my point to you was in regaurd to legallity.. You might run companies the size of small countries.. but Indonesia sure does have to worry about international law.. Unless your going to tell me you are a lawyer now as well.. Please have a look at china which has one of the largest black market industries on the planet.. now loook at some of the most recent litigation cases by IBM microsoft, intel as well as the RIAA and MPAA..I will throw it back at you, that you sir as speaking on terms you know nothing about.. and I will not step to name calling either..

If you indee do really run companies the size of small countries.. I hope you have a good legal department? maybe ytou should stop by and ask a few questions just to get your facts right.

P.S. FU - by REASON

huh what me what huh kick my ass.(2:13pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)what you see is what you get in the muslim world. First off im not a christian and dont really give a crap what your religeon is, but when you use your religeon as a hating tool,which basically Islam is based on and using it toward christians,hindus,jews and so forth i will somewhat get pissed. Muslim nations and corrupt european governments dont give a crap if an american software is being illegal distributed all over the net or its country side just to make the nation lose proffits.

Islam is a combination of judaism,christanity and insanity.the crusades was an answere to the genecides cultivated by the ottomon empire through out the world.

Islam is a war machine and not a peacefull religeon. alot of you american retards dont know history.Islam will never obolish slavery as saudi princesses stated. So i feel sorry for those non muslim vietnamese women working in saudi arabia.

and f%$k you all.

- by bla

wow(2:26pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)why am i amazed at how many haters are out there. i keep forgetting that a good chunk of America is closed minded bigots and racists. things never change.

on a topic note, they get windows, whatever version, for a buck a pop, but if i download a movie, the feds are all over my backside.

and guys can come in from the North with a bloody chainsaw…..maybe we need to work on things…

for all you racists out there, sure, lets nuke all Muslims, then they can nuke all Imperialst and Capitalist swine, then everyone else that isn't angry can go ahead and die on our nuclear fallout.

good plan folks. wake up and smell the humus. - by the DoKToR

all here(2:33pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)49% Americans have some forum of mental illness i think there all in this room - by Einstein

Do the Satch-Boogie(3:28pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)49% have diagnosed mental illnesses, the other 51% are just in denial.

Seriously, what are the implications here of a U.S. megopoly putting influence on the leader of another country?

Theft or no theft, this is very very heavy stuff. If I were the leader there, I would plan a one month shutdown of operations and purge as much MS as possible.

It IS about control. You own nothing in a MS world, and you pay them for that privilage.

Yeah right, someone just stuffed some weed in that bags bag. Sounds pretty damn lame. Bet if you took a urine analysis she had been smoking. Any bets?

I like Indonesia, some darn nice people. The whakos there are, IMO, better than in the U.S., and I'd feel much more comfortable walking down the street in Jakarta at midnight than South L.A. any time of day. - by Zeke

for racists and ignorants(4:00pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)if you could draw an opinion of an entire population based on what a group of ignorants or greedy government people do, you could say USA has only facist, imperialist, white people, which is not.

Stop talking until you've lived or know something about their lives.

PS. You're stupid, you base your yapping on their alleged hate and ignorance, while your argument reveals you as a hateful ignorant person.

On the MS matter, it is about the POWER not about the money. One sinlge company forced an entire nation to bend to its command, MS ia just practicing before it deals with the US.

Also, linux is years away from ruling desktops. It is true, that's 'cause people are not smart enough to use it, but the market is the stupid people not the geeks. - by by Tiredofcorporat

REASON(4:03pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)No, I'm not a lawyer. It is well known here that I am a Physician.

Yes, I have excellent legal departments.

The fact is that you are wrong. The litigations you point out have been a matter of the laws of the respective nations where those cases are heard, not international law. They are indeed international cases, so I think that is where you are confused. The lawsuits are not filed under international law, it is the law of the respective lands that determines the case not international law, though international agreements do come into play.

There are some international agreements on things like intellectual property, but countries can handle it as they see fit. That is an absolute fact. They don't have to observe our patents, our copyrights, our intellectual property laws or anything of that sort unless it pleases them.

Ask yourself why the RIAA isn't suing anybody in Canada. Because under Canadian law, they aren't doing anything they can be sued for. This is the case in many countries actually. Just take a visit to South America and you will see. You can buy Windows on the street for a few dollars and it is perfectly LEGAL there.

Clearly you are wrong and are well outside of your scope of understanding.

Re: CD(4:19pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)If you are what you say you are, it proves one thing to the rest of us: professions do not dictate intelligence. Your an embarrassment to your profession. - by Scott W.

religon & RE: Flare about Linux(4:24pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)People will and are switching to Linux and not just technical people either.

I work for an organization that employs about 1400 people. The Director of IT here has put it out that our overall strategy as an organization is to switch to Linux and open source applications. The goal of 5 years was placed to have Linux on the desktop for the users. We are migrating to applications with web based interfaces already.

Out of about 100 servers, 20 are some form of Red Hat ranging from 6 to Advanced Server 2.x. (And 20 of our windows servers are VM's sitting on Linux boxes). The biggest obstacle for us is in house apps with actual program interfaces reliant on Windows based front ends. We are looking at replacing our current (and way outdated) NT domain with Red Hat's Directory Server. And we are in the middle of migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Scalix 9.2. Novell already migrated to SUSE (of course) and we are investigating their migration process as a possible general guideline for ourselves.

And it will get crammed down our user's throats eventually. And I work for a local government. Usually the last to do anything.

As for religon, it is only evil when misinterpreted by what really is well meaning people (even a lot of the zealots and radicals feel they are doing something good). Islam specifically forbids suicide. The terrorists do suicide bombing because they genuinely believe that other people (the U.S. mostly) are a direct threat to the religon as a whole. Right wrong or in between. And almsot every religon on Earth in some form or fashion says 2 things. Do to others what you would have done to you and God is the ultimate decision maker. It is not for us to judge anyone. Not a bad philosophy in my book. “Kill `em all and let God sort them out.” - by Nother Tech

bull(4:35pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)you can download any iso linux system for free from why would they want windows which they can download the iso from any p2p program. linux is much better and free try ubuntu compare the speed with xp no contest ubuntu wins. - by kool tux

RE: iWishUWouldShutUp(4:50pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)And where is your fabulous insight? Or are you just another moron looking for someone to flame because you don't have anything intelligent to say? Enjoy your weekend. - by Nother Tech

if your here(5:32pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)if your here with a option as big as a book it basic means your a loser what else or who else would waste time talking to a bunch self appointed smart ass's none of you are smart that includes me your just opinionated with useless information your just either retarded or lonely. - by AM out of here

hahahahahahahahahahaha(5:59pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)f%$king liberals are nothing more than hypocrits. Its a good thing that idiot didnt become president. John Kerry:: I approved the removal of hussein before i disapproved it.

yes muslims are very peacefull ppl, just because they rape,kill,like sexual slavery, oppress women, and wanna kill everybody on this planet including themselves doesnt mean they are a bad ppl. No just miss understood. the backlash comming from muslims and dumbass liberals who think the whole world is peacefull. - by bla

Hmmmm(8:13pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)Ok, Angry Rivethead hit the nail on the head with his first post. Yes there is an Australian woman locked up in an Indon jail for 20 years for 'trying' to import some hash.

Almost everyone in Indon wants her to receive the death penalty for it.

It was never established that she intentionally tried to import the hash, or if it was placed in her bag.

The Indon judges simply dismissed all defence statements from witnesses on Shapelles side.

And before that, a terrorist leader masterminded the deaths of over 200 people in Bali, and got locked away for 3 years for it.

Australia gave a massive amount of aid to Indon after the boxing day tsunami.

And now most of their software is pirated, and they get away with it.

So you tell me. Does that sound fair to you? Do they belong in this society? Or should they be irradiated off the face of this Earth?

- by Headley

lol(8:35pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)And what exactly where the all powerfull M$ gonna do if the government refused??? Bann them from using it? Send them a strongly worded letter? M$ is based in the US so Declare War thats it….

You must use legal versions of M$ products or we will declare War… You shall end up Like Osama and Saddam If you keep using those pirate copies!!

All I can say is ROFL

- by Wise Up M$!

huh oh well last time for me(9:35pm EST Fri Jun 10 2005)microsofts has buddies in washington. It hurts microsoft, it hurts america. sanctions on indonesia will do the job.

In saudi arabia 99% of drug trafficking is done by foreigners saud government claims, and so the accused are beheaded.

ottomon empire committed genecide in ww1, more than 6 million armenian christians brutally executed, and turkey still doesnt want to admit the act of genecide they commited.

pakistan during the 80's commit genecide more than 80,000,000 hindus executed. No muslim in the world says anything against the discusting act and not even u.s.prophet muhhommod was furious after the jews rejected him as the messiah, so he got a gang together and had those that thought muhhommod was a nut job executed. muhhommod was a rapist,pedaphile, murderer, and couldnt read or write. Mildly retarted i guess.the things this guy did is discusting. he insults life and nature. the koran is a reflection of muhhommod in every way. INSANITY.

how would ppl like it if there were 500,000,000 followers of a new religeon called adolph hitler. preaching the death of all ppl with brown eyes and brown hair,dark skinned and so on. pretty much almost all 6billion ppl would have to be exterminated to be able to have only blue eyed blond hair ppl left to rule the earth.

WYSWIG. - by bla

mullahs like young boys(12:28am EST Sat Jun 11 2005)

check this picture out of a mullah in iran tounging this young kid. - by bla

all retards & losers(5:52am EST Sat Jun 11 2005)It is very crappy to see all kind of racism, religion & info about culture being spewed out on a Geek forum that is supposed contain intelligent, technical & logical posts.

Instead what do I see? 80-85% of crap, mindless posts. Saddening, very saddening. - by sayshh

whats more, microsoft is at a win win situation… they got money for pirated software they would have never had otherwise…

they didn't have to pay for an ANTI-PIRACY campaign in Indo…

So now they have a possitive campaign in that region to say how good M$oft is because of their good deed…

way to go bill.. you hired a good PR Person… - by X-plattform

hehe(11:23am EST Sat Jun 11 2005)well….the current situation in indonesia is against chinese people who are living there and are not born in china for that matter.

50,000USD is easy money for the indonesian government. - by sexy

Why all the hate?(1:59pm EST Sat Jun 11 2005)The very last thing I ever expected of a Geek community is the blatant display of raw ignorance that this thread has become! I honestly expected better of ALL of you! Apparently such expectations were severely misplaced.

Going back on topic: Call it what you will, but I find what Microsoft did to be frightening. By offering conditional amnesty as they have, Microsoft has effectively bought themselves an entire country for the piddly price of 50 thousand copies of Windows. This sets a dangerous precedent in my eyes. It remains to be seen what ultimately comes of this, but just don't believe any good will come of it in the long run. One country down, a couple hundred to go, and Mr. Gates will own the UN. - by AthlonGirl

Apology(2:00pm EST Sat Jun 11 2005)I feel obliged to apologize to all sane people here for my rude post above, but I simply couldn't resist people like “bla” understand only the language & insults they use themselves…

Considering the topic: The 50.000 USD aren't important at all, it's peanuts for both sides It's more important that Indonesia acknowledged it has a problem and they made an agreement how to solve it to the best of both parties.

That way Indonesia will get legal software & support in a couple of years, and Microsoft has secured a few hundred million in revenues in the long term.

So everyone's happy :-) - by Karabey

Karabey(3:40pm EST Sat Jun 11 2005)I understand your anger… My dad and half of my family is muslim and live in a country boardering iraq.

That country, is by far filled with the nicest people I have ever met anywhere. I have lived in the US, and I live in europe currently. But for being so poor, I have never met more generous people.

I think this will benefit both sides. Any worries about Microsoft owning the country because of this is paranoia in my opinion. - by 3ds

Please,(10:09pm EST Sat Jun 11 2005)Please dont buy MS products.

thanks,- by doug

RE: Blah(11:56pm EST Sat Jun 11 2005)[quote]“its pretty freaking sad getting indonesia off the hook so easily, damn i hate those freaking muslims. tsunami was a blessing,revenge for the rapes and murders of chinese christians in indonesia 1996.

yeah they are corrupt to the bone and had no right to send the australian woman to 15 or 20 years to jail. that women should of had common sense and ran out of the f%$king country. U.S and australia should have put sanctions against indonesia and get back the aid it received for the tsunami.

these muslim motherf%$kers target foreigners.

Nuke tose thugs. f%$king cockroaches.Even saudi's and other arab muslims dont like asian muslims since they are not sand ni$$ers.” [/quote]

That was very interesting. I singled you out of all of the other relgious based comments because I thought this was the most ignorant of them all. I have a first generation American Muslim friend who is in his late teens studying in college to get some sort of business degree. I sent that quoted comment in an E-mail to him then phoned him up to make sure he saw it. After ensuring he knew I did not say that, I asked him how he would reply to that. He switched topics to some small talk and then said he would reply in an E-mail back. He hung up, and sure enough shortly after I got an E-mail from him. He said the following: [Edited slightly to remove personal information.]

“I love America. It has given me opportunities that I would have never gotten in [my home country]. But at the same time, I understand my family's feelings. To them, America has brought much pain despite their attempts to help. They feel America is forcing them to abide by their rules, but that is another story I do not wish to get into. In response to that person, I bet if he had been born and raised in [a third world country] full of Muslims, he would have said exactly the following:

“its pretty freaking sad how american coorperations are, damn i hate those freaking americans. 911 was a blessing, revenge for the suffering and murders of innocent muslim children in [a third world country] over the last 30 years.

yeah they are corrupt to the bone and had no right to send american troops to countries because they did not agree with their form of government. The government should have had common sense and change the way their f%$king country worked. [All third world nations] should have put sanctions against America and received compensation for all the innocent lives taken.

these american motherf%$kers target foreigners.

Nuke tose thugs. f%$king rats.Even French and other developed countries dont like americans since they are not arrogant rednecks.”

Before you start flipping out, I want to make sure that everyone knows that THE POINT OF VIEW SHOWN ABOVE IS NOT HIS REAL POINT OF VIEW!!! He was simply making a point. I felt he made his message very clear and it had to be said. - by SinfulSoul + Friend

Oh, one more thing. (12:04am EST Sun Jun 12 2005)I forgot to mention. I'm a Hindu, but first generation American aswell. I get along fine with Muslims, even Pakistani Muslims. I have several Muslim friends who are also friends with my other Indian friends. We of all people have the most *reason* in comparison to the US for hating Muslims, yet we have no problem staying civil with eachother. Just because some Muslims and Hindus are killing eachother on the border way on the other side of the planet doesn't mean we have to over here too.

You people complain of a couple hundred or couple thousand lost lives and go ballistic on not just one bit 10 or 20 different nations just because they happen to contain a certain religion. What as Indonesia ever done to you? Have they affected your personal life so drastically that it requires you to voice your hate about something you don't even know? People in India have lost tens of thousands of lives to Muslims in Pakistan, and right now they just started playing Cricket with eachother for the fun of it. Britain tried to enslave Indians and forced them into even more poverty along with unjust rule. Now there's a huge Indian population in the UK, and they're all very prominent people too. Can't you long bred Americans just calm the hell down?

So Indonesia gets a good deal on a popular product. And this is what spawns all this hate? Jeeze, I hope no one ever finds out much I paid for my MP3 player at Wal-Mart.. - by SinfulSoul

re:Karabeg(12:58am EST Sun Jun 12 2005)im romanian. romanians hate turks,hate gypsies. Its nice to know we had a monarch who speared those f#$king turks to death.

isnt freedom of speech a wonderfull thing.All religeons are sickening. Islam is the most perversed out of all of them. Alot of those so called terrorist were hard working individuals living pay check by pay check, but what fueld their love for killing was Islam. Islam to muslims is their life,Islam comes before their children,Islam comes before humanity.

I have done my research on history and what you see is what you get. When muslims commit genecide you wont hear any muslim condemning the act, but when non-muslim kills a muslim or critisizes them or the koran, muslims go ape. why? because muslims think they are pure, and the rest of us are unclean and are nothing more than slaves to muslims.

yes there are extremist in christianity and judaism as well, but you cant compare it To the discusting, war mongering Islam.

Oh yes adolph hitler took his sickening ideas from islam.

I hope a huge tidal wave 13,000 feet high covers indonesia killing all inhabitants. what a dream.

Muslims: mr.bush why is it there are no muslims in the star trek show. why?

mr.bush: because you have no future. - by bla

$1 for Windows is a rip off.(1:56am EST Sun Jun 12 2005)You could not pay me enough to use Windows. Linux is safer, more stable, more flexible, and free.

I can install Linux and 2,000 programs on most any new computer in less than 20 minutes. Try that with Windows. - by Dreamcast

You're no romanian, I know some normal romanian people who certainly don't think like you. My son, you're NOT EVEN HUMAN !!!

Get some professional help, get a shrink, get a girlfriend, GET A LIFE…and get rid of this complex you have toward muslims.

Your country is sinking in poverty (most people). Instead of trying to improve your life, you're living in the past and thinking about the Ottoman Empire…:)

You hate gypsies?! Most people in Europe think that all romanians are gypsies and that the Romanian nation is actually a gypsy nation! Ignorant people like YOU!(I lived in 5 europan countries for at least a year in each, and I know it from 1st hand)Instead of trying to improve the image of your nation in Europe & the world, you're making it big damage by posting all your shit!

I think you're just a frustrated kid who knows nothing about life, but be sure that if you keep saying the crap you are, it will catch up with you sometime in life…

I HAVE NO INTENTIONS TO GIVE ATTENTION TO YOUR POSTS ANYMORE, SO PLEASE DON'T HARASS THESE NICE PEOPLE HERE, FIND ANOTHER PLACE…

P.S: here is a link to a video that was discovered a few days ago. Some Serbian special forces are executing Bosnian muslim teenagers in Srebrenica in 1995 (over 9,000 executed in 5 days). They're even taping it and making jokes.THEY'RE “PEACEFUL” ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN SERBS, JUST LIKE YOU! who are just killing very, very dangerous and redical muslim terrorists!!

Have a look,they're killing muslims, I'M SURE YOU'LL HAVE AN ORGASM!!! - by Karabeg

Confuse(4:16am EST Sun Jun 12 2005)I'm from Indonesia, and in fact I'm Catholic (not all Indonesian is muslim), so please don't hate all Indonesian because some of them is doing something really wrong, that will be unfair for marginalizing every person and against the human rights.

About the Topic, it is absolutely wrong to let even a single pirated software to be legalized just US$1. That doesn't fix the problem, but maybe Microsoft want to bribe corrupt Indonesian goverment by doing so, which mean Indonesian goverment will give better support on tracing the pirated Win OS users. But that still doesn't fix the whole problem at all, since pirated business is illegal business run by some of corrupted goverment or military related families.

If our goverment Ministry said : “We are too poor to buy legal Windows (or other software)”, that is absolutely lie. Look he is driving newest VOLVO!And come to Jakarta, look, most of the road is traffic jammed with expensive cars such BMW, Mercedez (how come many ppls can buy thousands such expensive cars but can't buy a legal Win OS?).

Don't believe if Indonesian said we are poor, we are 3rd country, infact Indonesian is corrupt, that is why Indonesian doing many illegal thingy, because they like to corupt everything.

Just force via WTO or another to pressure my country (Indonesia) to became more a fair country, by pressure my country you help us combat the corrupt goverment. - by Thank You

I`m moslem and i`m proud of it. Read your post make my blood boils, our religion is not teach us terrorims. Our religion teaching us to be good to our neighbour, to pray and sholat to Allah swt, to share our wealth through zakat, to make pilgrim to mecca. We dissalowed to drink alcohol, use corrupt money, killing, destroy environtment, have sex before marry. There are some or many people do have their sins, but this is not because they are moslem.. because they weak like the rest of us. Islam is not terrorims!!We are allowed to fight and kill, if we being fighted. And if someone dishonor our religion, our God Allah, our prophet Mohammed.. we allowed to fight you!! We will granted the best place in heaven as we believe because we protect Islam honor..Allahu akbar (Allah is the greatest)!! - by Moslem

thank you mr.mohammed, yes if ppl criticize your religeon, yes you are allowed to kill them. just like when jews criticized mohommed, they were tortured to death.

Yes ppl here do find my comments disgracefull,discusting,inhumane, and a reflection of a bigot.

As my comments insult you, Islam insults all societies all over the world.First of all just because i was born there doesnt mean i have a relations ship with that country. Im mixed anyway.

Freedom of speech is a nice thing. I guess all of you backlashers are liberals. whats the matter you dont support freedom of speech. Im goanna leave you ppl alone.- by bla

Don't be so biased!(5:29pm EST Sun Jun 12 2005)Microsoft really did cut them a break in the long scheme of things. Also, don't just assume Linux is better. If you want to touch on the corporate aspect of it all, we have barely open-source distros out there. Mandriva, Linspire, RedHat, SUSE. That's just to name a few. Yes, if you're anti-corporate or just pro-good software then switch to a Linux distro like Slackware, Gentoo, or ArchLinux. Do note, however, that Windows has it's uses. - by BSD is outdated crap

to anyone,everyone(6:49pm EST Sun Jun 12 2005)oh pleasssee…to the poster who is “moslem”…i seriously doubt he is a muslim…i am from Malaysia and i KNOW and CAN tell if someone is a muslim…

1. NO MUSLIM will spell their religion as MOSLEM.2. Allahhu Akbar?its ALLAH HU AKHBAR. And in my days living in malaysia(which is 20yrs), i have heard that word only on tv and 3/4 of my neighbours are muslims.3. only an AMERICAN will spell honour, HONOR.

well,my point is that why are people so ignorant?how can one say that all asians are living in huts and its the westerners who are “more” advanced?Please people..we are adults (though i seriously doubt the ages of some of the posters)..Open your eyes to the world. Some of you probably haven't even travelled overseas before. I have been to America and it is no doubt that the country is simply beautiful. BUT to accused other eastern nations of being “uncivilized”?

You want to talk about chips?Here in malaysia we have 3 of the biggest chip companies producing chips here IBM, Freescale and Intel. I can take pictures of the plants if you don't believe and they are HUGE. And our Intel plant here is one of the most advanced in the world. In fact for the next generation of pentiums, 40% of it is being developed here. Trust me. I know. I can't say how or my employers will kill me. And thats only my country Malaysia. Have you ever looked at Singapore?Korea?Taiwan?JAPAN?wow..grass houses huh…

Just looking at that post by “moslem” got me thinking that probably all these anti-islam thing is started by people who are not even muslims themeselves and just get a kick out of seeing ppl fight it over. Thank god though there are other posters who are more sensible.

usually employers fire ppl not kill them. hmmm, so is it stoning, or the traditional beheading? - by bla

re:by -k-(10:06pm EST Sun Jun 12 2005)I am Muslim also, do not tell them anything my brother, let these arrogant white future slaves be in the dark. we will use these technologies to our advantage against the non believers.

You christians,jews,atheist insult allah since you deny his law written in the Koran.

The Romans are vanquishedIn a near land, and they, after being vanquished, shall overcome,

Within a few years. Allah's is the command before and after and on that day the believers shall rejoice,

With the help of Allah He helps whom He pleases and He is the Mighty, the Merciful

Allah's promise! Allah will not fail His promise, but most people do not know. - by Abdul

Just a deal(11:25pm EST Sun Jun 12 2005)Conspiricy theorists the lot of you. To microsoft it's just a small deal to recover a little from a bad situation and maybe help negotiate a better tax break for the new center. Just because it's in the media doesn't mean it's a big deal.

What a waste of good geek processing cycles and what a shame for it to bring out such ignorance. As geels you should look for knowledge before firing off you mouths.- by salaryman

Re: conspiracy theorists(3:47am EST Mon Jun 13 2005)$50k is peanuts to M$, so I doubt very much it's about “recovering from a bad situation”.

As to the use of the word “illegal” in reference to pirated copies, Microsoft (and the US for that matter) have no power over what is and isn't illegal in Indonesia they are selling them something they don't need since they could just make this piracy legal.Of course that wouldn't be the ethical thing for the Indonesian government to do ideally they should switch to a free, open source, alternative, probably Linux. Even more reason to switch is that M$ is trying to tell them what to do.Linux does work as a desktop, believe it or not, in fact plenty of governments use it. There are enough distros for there to be one suitable for almost any purpose, and while most popular (commercial) software runs on Windows and not Linux, there are free alternatives. Another advantage is that the Indonesian government wouldn't be relying on M$ for their information security they don't have a very good track record for that.

Does nobody else find it just a little scary that any government would widely use any program, let alone OS, that they weren't allowed to see the source to? For all they know, M$ are giving them “special” versions of windows with backdoors unlikely, and conspiracy-theory-ish, I agree. But Indonesia shouldn't just have to trust M$ that it didn't happen. - by Warfreak2

re: by bla(6:40am EST Mon Jun 13 2005)You are talking about freedom of speech. Of course you have it. Enjoy it, relish it. But the pathetic appearance of your posts on a Geek forum are just too revolting.

If you want to express your view(s) (freedom of speech) on religion why don't you find a religious site to put up your crappy, coarse, reckless posts on? And get your lousy crap out of here.

This applies to all those people trying to show that their religion is the best! Can you all please shut up & get out of this conversation? For God's sake (whoever you believe in), this is a Geek forum. Exchange your email ids, msn, yahoo ids and fight for your religion there. You should all be ashamed to have people look at your posts and think you are a bunch of jerks. - by sayshh

Ya (7:07am EST Mon Jun 13 2005)What “sayshh” said…….. you will all fye in hell… you non-belivers GOD WILL PUNISH YOU for Posting religious stuff on Geek.com. God does not approve of geek.com as it is not sactioned by the US State Church …Bush is watching oops i mean God is watching….

Linux Free?(10:00am EST Mon Jun 13 2005)Sure if you download the source and then compile and tweak it. Who wants to do that? If you want a distributable copy you have to pay for it. So it is not free. And you can't install it in 20 minutes.

Microsoft has the right idea. It is the only workable solution that has a realistic chance of succeeding.

As for the other topics, The Muslim world was a superior civilization about 500 years ago. But it is sorely missing everything that has happened since the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. It doesn't have anything positive to add to the world now a days. Too bad. But its 15 minutes are over. - by xray

re: xray(1:02pm EST Mon Jun 13 2005)I don't know anything about compiling and source or much anything about tweaking Linux and I have installed Linux on three machines. Really!

Mandrake, Knoppix Live! and Ubuntu are the only ones I have fully tested. Downloaded the DVD ISOs burned the disks and followed the on screen prompts.

Seemed as easy as installing any version of Windows to me, and yes, you can easily do a full install of Knoppix even if it is considered a live distro. Maybe other distros are more complicated? - by Zeke

The Open Office beta download is awesome, regardless of OS you use. Knocked my socks off, or was that from reading all the hyper threads above?

Anyway – Whoo hoo! - by Zeke

Stop this nonsense already(8:45pm EST Mon Jun 13 2005)Are you guys and girl want to start another world war???

Pleaseeee, no more…

Let make world peace - by GreenPeace

Freedom for speech(9:03pm EST Mon Jun 13 2005)by bla

there is always a line for freedom you said.. Or are you saying if i tell you that “Your mother is bitch” or “Your mother fucking a horse” that freedom of speech too??, No my brother that is insult.. I`ll not allowed some say that to my religion like you with yours..

It is same with if you tell me Islam tortured jews and not the opposite, its a lie. Because, what happen now in palestine, the only torturer i know is Israel: and they are jews!!

Please, ppl open your eyes.. and see without clouded mind. We are human, we create the same, i have birth in islamic country and you had birth in other religion country, we fated that way. Can we not tolerate others?.

Man not beast(10:16am EST Tue Jun 14 2005)Hey now, I guess the forum rules have been dropped or ignored. So I will engage.

There is nothing in the history of the human race that makes one group superior or more enlightened over another. We are *all* the same. To think that ones theology, government, lineage or geographical birthplace makes a tinkers damn to what we all are, one would be mistaken.

To set blame of violence on one, you must realize that you are just as capable, you are in fact – the same. What we should focus on is the motivator for acting vs suppression of violence.

It is easier to kill an animal than an image of yourself. Debasing an enemy to the likes of an animal helps one rationalize the violence. Just remember, we are all the same.

Theology, government, lineage and geographical birthplace can not – and never will change the fact that we are all the same. - by Zeke

yup huh what no what(4:14pm EST Tue Jun 14 2005)yes i absolutely agree. ppl are nothing more than shit eating assholes trying to enslave one another just for the purpose of feeding their big selfish egos.

Yes we all come from one source, we are all brothers and sisters, but as you all know brothers and sisters occasionally do become enemies in some point. Family problems is what we have here today.

I would agree on one Israel state with both jews,christians, and palestanians living under one roof.